I have always wanted to properly 'cover' the significant celebrations of major ecclesial milestones around the world, especially when the Holy Father sends a personal representative, as a way to learn about the traditions of local churches, but have not been able to do so until now... and I hope I wil be able to
100 years of a diocese and
a papal Golden Rose for Mary
Translated from the Spanish service of
CATAMARCA, Argentina, August 21 (RV) - With Holy Mass celebrated by the Holy Father's representative, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Saturday evening marked the conclusion of celebrations for the centennial of the Diocese of Catamra, in northwestern Argentina.
In the name of benedict XVI, Cardinal Errazuriz offered a Golden Rose to the patroness of Catamarca, the Virgen del Valle (Virgin of the Valley). The image is the latest Marian image to be honored by Benedict XVI with a Golden Rose, a tradition that backs a thousand years.
The history of the Dicoese of Catamarca is tightly linked to the miraculous image of the Immaculate Conception which was found in a cave some time in 1618-1620. A chapel was built to house the image, and the cult to the Virgin of the Valley took hold of the region ever since.
The present church was completed in 1895, when the pontifical coronation of the image also took place. Three years later, a seminary was established under the French Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception. Eventually, the desire of the faithful in the region to have thir own diocese was sent to Pope Pius X who created the new dicoese in February 1910.
ZENIT has a story that focuses on the Golden Rose:
Pope sends Golden Rose
to the Virgin of the Valley
VATICAN CITY, AUG. 23, 2010 (Zenit.org).- In addition to sending a special envoy to the centenary celebrations for the Argentinean Diocese of Catamarca, Benedict XVI also gave the 11th Golden Rose of his pontificate to Mary at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Valley there.
Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, archbishop of Santiago, Chile, represented the Pope at the centenary celebrations on Saturday.
The image of the Virgin to receive the rose is a 42-centimeter (16-inch) marble statue that dates back to original Spanish missionaries of South America. The native population developed strong devotion to the Virgin in this representation, and over the years, various miracles have been attributed to her.
The Golden Rose is a papal decoration originally conferred on prominent Catholic personalities; it has gone through a significant evolution. Initially, kings and dignitaries received it, later it was conferred almost exclusively on queens and, more recently, on images of the Virgin Mary that hav earned enduring popular devotion. The distinction was created by Pope Leo IX in 1049.
In more recent times, after the Second Vatican Council, the papal decoration has become almost exclusively a gift from the Popes to Our Lady.
This was the 11th Golden Rose that the Pontiff has given to Our Lady in the more than five years of his pontificate. The other 10 were given to the Shrine of Jasna Góra in Poland (2006), the Basilica of Aparecida in Brazil (2007), the Mariazell Basilica in Austria (2007), the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. (2008), Our Lady of Bonaria in Cagliari, Italy (2008), Our Lady of Pompeii, Italy (2008), Our Lady of Europe in Gibraltar (2009), and the "Virgen de la Cabeza" (literally, Virgin of the Head) of the Diocese of Jaen, Spain (2009), the Shrine of Our Lady of Ta' Pinu in Malta (2010), and Our Lady of Fatima (2010).
When an Italian bishop dies, it is a double loss for the Holy Father, who is also Primate of Italy.
Pope mourns an emeritus bishop
of northern Italy who was
a leader in Jewish-Catholic dialogue
VATICAN CITY, AUG. 24, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI expressed his grief at the death of a retired bishop of Livorno, Italy, Alberto Ablondi, who died Saturday at age 85.
The prelate was a protagonist in inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue.
In a telegram sent to Bishop Simone Giusti of Livorno, the Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the Holy Father "participates spiritually in the grief" that has stricken the diocesan community.
"While recalling [the bishop's] generous ministry, especially beneficial in the commitment to the ecumenical realm and fruitful in the biblical apostolate, [the Pontiff] raises fervent prayers of suffrage, entrusting him to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary," the message added.
Alberto Ablondi was born in 1924 in Milan and ordained in 1947. He served for 30 years as the bishop of Livorno. He also served as vice-president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, and was a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, president of the World Catholic Federation for the Biblical Apostolate [now the Catholic Biblical Federation] and vice-president for Europe of the United Bible Societies.
Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, praised Bishop Ablondi's service in a statement reported by the SIR news agency.
Bishop Farrell referred to the prelate as an "enlightened interpreter and tireless promoter of the commitment of the Catholic Church -- as formally sanctioned by the Second Vatican Council and by all the Supreme Pontiffs from that time up to today -- to the search for full communion of all the baptized and of renewed religious relations with the Jewish people, as well as the diffusion of sacred Scripture."
"All of us are witnesses of his great love of the Church and of his undying trust that God is raising her up as the common home of all, able to embrace in her communion all men and women of good will, especially the little ones and the forgotten," Bishop Farrell added.
Bishop Ablondi's successor in the Diocese of Livorno, retired Bishop Diego Coletti, recalled him as an "attentive and generous pastor."
Lauding his contribution to ecumenical and interreligious work, Bishop Coletti said, "But it is above all humanly that his figure was a splendid testimony of faith and of attention to people, with particular predilection in caring for personal relationships."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/08/2010 12:55]